The Worst Bluff in Hold'Em

[davidross]

Please feel free to add your own.

4 times tonight someone did this to me.

I was leading the betting from late position on every round. When the scare flush card hits on the end, heads up, the guy bets out with no flush. Does anyone fold to a single bet in a big pot like this? I called every time and won every time. Is this just a poor play or does it work sometimes? It seems to me at least once or twice you would save a bet because the other guy will be too scared to bet the river.

[JTG51]

Is this just a poor play or does it work sometimes?

Can I say both? It's a poor play and it works sometimes. You'd be crazy to fold on the river in a big pot in the situation you described.

As for the worst bluff, here's one I tried a few months ago. I semibluff raised the turn with an open ended straight draw after the board paired. The only problem was, the other guy turned quads. /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

[Ed Miller]

There are some regulars where I play that routinely make this fold. And they would fold face up so we could all see what a good laydown they made...

[Zag]

I disagree that it is a terrible bluff, for just the reason that you say. You only need to win once in number-of-bets-in-pot for it to be a worthwhile bet. There are a number of people who will lay it down if the flush draw is what they had you on.

I had a similar incident to yours a while ago, but it was even MORE fun. I had successfully (and with odds to draw at it) hit a flush on the river twice against a particular player inside of an hour. He had called me down both times.

On a third hand, I was actually drawing at a straight, but there were two hearts on the board. When a third heart came on the river, I bet out and he laid down his top two pair face up, muttering about my uncanny luck. Knowing he was a tilter, I showed him my busted straight as I dragged the pot. You could see the steam coming out his ears!

He blew off a rack and a half before he finally got enough discipline to walk away. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

[AmericanAirlines]

Last time I played up at Blackhawk this worked. But I had played the whole hand in a way that went along with it.

I had been talking to the opponent just casually and when the card hit, just tossed the chips in while still talking.

Guess he read that as, "he didn't even have to think about it"

I suppose, as always, "it depends on the opponent".

In this case, I figured he was better than me, and really had been trying to read me. Just lucked out.

Don't know that I'd consistently bluff that way though.

Sincerely,
AA